In Search of Armor: Kidney belt

With my gambeson done, I could start on the rigid layers of my kit, which needed to be fitted over the padded garment to avoid accidentally ending up with something that didn't fit at all.  I decided to start with my kidney belt, which will go under my tunic. I had some dilemma over how to design this item. Most of the guys who use a kidney belt sort of protection just use a straight belt. For someone with as much hip as I have, that didn't sound like a comfortable option, especially with the weight of my leg gear hanging off of it. It seemed like the best solution would be to have it extend slightly over my hips, not far enough to limit motion, but far enough to solidly seat the weight there and keep it from digging in. I immediately thought of the shape of a "waspie" corset. It seemed to me to be the ideal amount of coverage, so long as it was adapted to be snug, but not create a reduction in waist measurement.

I set about making a pattern. Drafting from my block, I made a basic short, 8 panel corset pattern, fastening on either side of a center front panel to allow adjustments in waist size. I cut it out in some canvas, and fitted it, taking tucks where it needed to be reduced. Once the fit was comfortable, I transferred the alterations to the patterns, and then double checked the final waist measurement of the mockup against my own. It was exactly the same, so I reduced the front panel a little further to allow room for lacing.

you will note that I have both the number and
an arrow on every one of these patterns. Corset
patterns can be ambiguous as to which way is
up. Using an arrow means you won't put
them together wrong. it's worth the time

I had originally planned to just cut the panels directly out of heavy leather, then lace them together. After further thought I decide that this was inadvisable. People who make corsets become aware, quickly, that leather, although beautifully stiff, and not needing extensive boning, stretches and distorts under pressure. Particularly if it has moisture and heat. Strapped to the body of a hot sweaty fighter seems like the perfect situation for leather to stretch totally out of shape, particularly given mumblety mumblety pounds of leg harness hanging from it. So I decided that a better option would be to rivet the leather plates directly to a fabric base, a fabric base made of something not terribly stretchy, but still comfortable and breathable. The corsetierre in me immediately suggested coutil as the best option. Although this belt wouldn't experience the pressure exerted on my corsets, it does share some of same attributes. As a bonus, I still had some good quality german coutil lying around, so I fished it out and traced the pattern.

How to manage the seams was the next question. When I make corsets I prefer to use an elaborate folded seam system that eliminates bulk and creates a boning channel. This wasn't going to NEED boning channels, and the origami element of that seemed tedious and unnecessary. I could likewise just put the seams to the outside, and hope the riveted leather plates would cover them. That seemed like leaving too much to chance though. if the seams worked free and poked out between the plates it would be unsightly and it wouldn't wear well.  I finally decided on a partial lining to cover the seams as being easy, attractive, and practical. Seam binding would have worked too, but I still had some of the skull fabric from my gauntlets lying around and wanted to use it, and it wouldn't have shown to advantage cut into small strips for seam binding.

Once I got it all together I wrapped it around me and bent back and forth a couple times. This set a wrinkle at the waist, which marks the spot for me to sew in a waist tape, a further precaution against stretching out of shape. Probably overkill, but a 10 minute investment now guards against a total re-do six months down the road.






Waist tape on, I bound all the edges with bias tape. Bright red and black are the colors of  the household I fight with, so it seemed like a good choice. Plus I like the red with the silver skulls. The belt was now ready to have the armory bits riveted to the outside of it.







To do this I first folded back the seam allowance on all my pattern pieces, and traced them onto leather with the tip of my awl. I cut them out carefully with an exacto knife, and rounded off any sharp corners a bit. Then I punched even holes along the vertical edges for rivets. Now  I had to decide whether I was going to water shape them or not. I didn't want the belt to be rigid, like my gauntlet backs, or even as hard as my hot water hardened rerebraces, but it was instantly obvious that the pieces over my hips and the center back would HAVE to be shaped. I decided in the end to wear it for a while and see if heat and sweat would be enough to shape it, or if it needed to be sprayed with water and cinched down to take a better shape.

The remainder of the construction was annoying and time consuming, but not difficult. I lined up the leather panels with the corresponding fabric panels, making a hole with my tailors awl, I inserted a small pop rivet, and riveted on the leather onto the fabric. Then I mounted d-rings and straps to the front. I also punched holes for laces to point my current set of legs on. I'd like to eventually buckle the legs rather than tie them, but these aren't' my final legs (and I'm not even sure what I"m going to do for final legs yet) so  I decided pointing them on was the easiest method for now.

             

Shakedown cruise proved that the concept is GREAT. Very comfortable, good protection. My leg armor stayed put beautifully, and the weight was much more comfortably supported than by belt or pourpoint. The heat and sweat did adequately shape the panels, so I don't think further shaping will be necessary. On the down side, the sythentic strapping I used in the d-rings is slippery when it's sweaty, and so the belt doesn't stay cinched. Also evidently my pop rivets can't get enough purchase through the strapping to be secure long  term, and I did lose a strap. I also found I didn't really need d-rings for adjustment on both sides, since really it was most comfortable completely closed. I ended up attaching one edge permenantly, and using cotton strappping and D-rings on the other side. If it continues to slip out while I fight,  I can always go to buckles.

In search of Armor: Breastplate and tunic

With my kidney belt finished I moved onto the last remaining piece of my basic armor (not counting legs and helmet, which I'm still using loaner.) Over the kidney belt and rerebraces, I wanted to wear a plain short sleeved linen tunic. From what we can extrapolate from grave finds and art work, vikings did wear a sort of standard geometric tunic pattern, although they sometimes did shape the sleeves and armholes (as I do in my Serks). For this I decided to just keep the standard roomy "T" shape The loose sleeve is very easy to move in, and the more awkward drape isn't something I'm concerned about all that much when I'm wearing armor anyhow. Since by this time we were on final approach for pennsic, I just needed to get it done so I could get out of what i Had started referring to as the "hedgehog armor."

 I had bought blue and gold linen for this purpose several months ago on an excursion to a fabric warehouse, Indigo for the body, gold from the trim. I trimmed the sleeves, neck, and hem with the gold,  and covered the join to the body with a couched cord. The couched cord is found on smokkr fragments found in birka (1) although not used exactly in this way.

This is the most basic design in historical sewing, very fabric efficient because it's all squares and half rectangle triangles. I did flat fell all the seams for comfort and strength, and I made the under arm gusset much larger than I do on my normal garments, just to give it that little extra ease and make it easier to move in, and easier to get on and off over partial armor.

I also tried a new thing with the bottom trim. It's curved so it's a bit tricky. if you cut it in a long shaped strip, it's wicked inneficient use of fabric. lots of waste. If you cut it in pieces to match the ends of the gores, it's a lot of seams, and hard to get all the seam points matched up. If you make it straight and let it hang down, it hangs super weird and looks funny. So I cut a long straight strip, sewed it onto the edge, flipped it up to the outside of the tunic, and turned the edges under. Now I had an upper edge that was bigger than the garment. So at each seam along the side I took a small dart in by hand, from the edge of the trim to the top, shaping the trim evenly to the garment. The darts look like an extension of the garment seams, and the trim lies flat and smooth. I joined it to the body with a couched cord. The down side is that it makes 2 layers along the bottom of the garment, which is more wasteful. But on the other hand it weights the hem and makes hang very nicely. I think on balance it was a successful experiment, and I will repeat.

For the breastplate, I drafted a pattern from my gambeson, which was already patterned to wear over my breast band, which binds my chest flatter than a modern bra. I cut it out of stiff paper, because I didn't have cereal boxes big enough, and taped it together. Then I cut and shaped until it fit well over gambeson and breast band, leaving a little ease for the tunic. Instead of a seam directly over the shoulder, I used a long flat piece along the shoulder with an extended tab over the top of the arm. This both eliminated a seam at a pressure point where it could potentially cause discomfort, and gave me a place to rivet my spaulders.

I cut the breastplate pieces for medium weight leather for the sides, and heavy leather over the chest. This isn't to protect my chest as much as it is to protect my collar bones, sternum, and upper ribs. In my few months fighting, it's not super common to get hit on the chest, although that may be partially a function of preferring to fight sword and shield to other forms, but most blows seem to come down onto the shoulders, where they get deflected by the spaulders. Why then do I bother with anything past a heavy collar to protect your collarbones and support the spaulders? Aside from the occasional odd ball shot that was meant for your face but landed on your chest instead, a couple of the guys in my practice have a nasty hanging shot that comes in behind your shield and lands thumpingly on your sternum. In addition to that, when I do eventually take up forms that don't involve a shield, my whole upper torso becomes a prime target until I learn to block.

I pre punched small holes all along the edge of the breast plate pieces with my awl, then sewed them together with waxed leather thread (which is actually a sort of very fine braided cord) I then went back over the stitching the other way, making the exposed stitching look like a row of X's. This involved the use of pliers and a hand pad. I didn't want to punch the holes too large, but in hind sight I should have made them a little larger, because I broke two needles gripping them with the pliers to yank them through.

I didn't want to super water harden this piece, because I just didn't think it needed to be rigid, and I wanted some flex in thesides for ease of movement (although the way I patterned it I think I could have made it of kydex and still gotten complete range of motion.) but it did need to be shaped, and stiff. So I put on my gambeson, wrapped myself in saran wrap to protect it, then put on an old t-shirt of my husband's to simulate the bulk of the tunic. I submerged the breastplates in almost boiling water for about 20 seconds, until the edges had JUST started to shrivel a little, Then put it on, and stretched and formed it into shape. I wrapped it on with a giant ace bandage until it had cooled. Then I put it over a pillow so it would hold it's shape while it dried.

I attached a piece of suede for the back and shoulders (This will be covered by my scale mail drape, so it not only doesn't need to be rigid, but it's preferable that it not be) and added ties to one side so I could get in and out. Then I took it to a friend's house so he could help me drill holes in my stainless spaulders and I could rivet them on. I also wanted the advice of a more experienced armorer (I have so little experience it's not funny, he's been making armor for something like 20 years I think.) for the most effective placement of the spaulders. He actually decided I should put them on upside down, they fit my narrower shoulders better that way, and higher up than is totally standard. He also advised me on the best way to pad the inside of the spaulders, so that the ends and edges don't dig in when I get a direct hit. I wouldn't have thought of that until I'd been hit once, so I'm thankful.

And it was done! just in time for a shake down cruise to pennsic. I do NOT advise this course of action. ideally you should try your new armor at a few practices to work out any wrinkles, but I was determined to be rid of the heavy, uncomfortable loaner breastplate for pennsic and it's long days of field battles. So I packed an extensive repair kit, crossed my fingers, and jumped in at the deep end. Thankfully, it had no problems. It survived trial by fire with flying colors! I was deeply thankful for the padding in the spaulders a couple of times. It was light, mobile, and comfortable. The only down side of the shorty breastplate I found in a week of fighting is that in some positions spear to the ribs can miss both belt and breastplate and nail you. That happened once and all the air exited my lungs in a whoosh. Heck of a shot by the spear. I also want to get the drape done before I do another round of melee, because pole arm to the back on padding only kind of sucks (although that wool padding is surprisingly effective. I got pole armed to the back a couple times and I was sure I was going to have big old bruises, and didn't.)

              

Waiting to tag back in at the
allied champions battle. I still
look silly.
Photo by James Pallack

My probationary household member tabard almost
completely covers my armor, which actually improves
the look for early period.
Photo by James Pallack

and a gratoutious shot of me with some of my hopefully someday household brothers, mustering on the field.
 Fighting with these guys is a joy and an honor. I hope to continue doing it for a long time.
Photo Credit: Charla Kinzel

                                                                                                                                                                       





1) Orignal source: Hägg, I. 1974. Kvinnodräkten i Birka: Livplaggens rekonstruktion på grundval av det arkeologiska materialet. Uppsala, Archaeological Institute. ISBN 9150600028
translated in this excellent article about smokkr. 

My gloveing journey: A pair of armored gauntlets

 When I started loking at women's armor for inspiration, the first thing that I was really attracted to was a set of thigh guards and vambraces made from soft leather with sewn channels for metal strapping. I looked and said: "That looks like boning channels, I can do this!" So I designed these gloves with attached vambraces, based on a pair of Wisby style gauntlets I'd seen on pinterest. Essentially the pattern is like any other cuffed glove, although the cuff is longand fitted. Articulated finger backs for full gauntlets are far beyond my current skill and budget, but it should be theoretically possible to remove the vambraces, attach armor to the gloves, and then reattach the vambraces. Maybe I'll even figure out how to make the articulated fingers myself at some point (or more likely my husband will)

I decided that I'd use up my giant pile of good quality leather scraps on these gloves to save the limited funds for other armoring projects, and because I kind of liked the patchwork look of it (this is one of those "I saw a thing once upon a time and it stuck in my brains" ideas). It certainly makes my style very personalized, if not really Historically accurate. But the historical accuracy of a set of gauntlets for a viking persona is debatable at best, so I decided to go with making something fun for myself.

I started by making a cardboard pattern for the vambrace, and taping it onto my arm until I got a good shape with coverage up to the elbow but the ability to flex my arm. I really like cardboard for patterning things that will be stiff, because you can tape it on and see if it needs to be trimmed because it's bidning/jabbing/etc. Then I traced that onto a piece of butchers paper, and started laying out scraps to fit, and sewing them together. It's a bit tricky, because you don't want to cut a seam, so you can't just sew it all together into a big square then cut your patterns in the traditional way, but I managed to piece the outsides of a pair of vambraces in an evening.


I had a lot of "help" from Kitten. Who wants to be involved with everything.

I drafted a basic glove pattern, and fit it with a
felt mockup. I must finally be getting better at this, because this time around I only had to do one mockup, and only two small changes. I'm still having trouble getting the amount of ease in the fingers right: the thumb was snug and the two middle fingers were about a quarter inch loose, I slimmed down the fouchettes to correct that problem, and traced out a final pattern. I'd also forgotten to center the thumb on the palm side of the first finger again, but that was easily set right. I then proceeded to trace a clean copy, and cut it apart into bits so that I could piece it from scraps without having to either a) cut the seams or b) ending up with a continuous line of stitching across the knuckles, which I thought would be awkward looking. I taped the fouchettes to some of the fingers to give my one piece to cut out instead of two, carefully overlapping the seam allowances so that the pieces would be the right size.

When I was done putting all the pieces together I was left basically with a standard glove that had the

fouchettes put in already. Remaining was the thumb and the final finger seam. Typically I do that final finger seam on the treadle machine to expedite things, but because of the way the fingers were pieced together I decided to just bite the bullet and do it by hand.

with the hands and vambraces all together I was ready to splint the vambraces 

I used metal intended for welding sourced from the hardware store for my splints. My husband cut it and rounded the edges, and then I painted it with 3 layers of rustoleum. Why would I do that? because I'm going to sweat all over these things regularly, and they may not dry out as quickly as I'd like. Rust will ruin these from the inside out in very short order. I wish I could have found aluminum from my splints, as it would have been lighter, and rust proof, but this was what I could easily source locally, and compared to the arms I'm currently wearing, it's light as a feather.
  

With the metal ready, I sewed boning channels into my canvas and lining, and inserted the splints. Awesome lining fabric is leftover from a quilting project. I decided NOT to pad the lining, as I'd originally considered, but rather to pad my gambeson underneath, with the idea that separate layers will dry more quickly. The padding will protect my arm from the splints. If this seems like an aggressive amount of protection, it probably is, but I watched someone get their forearm broken a few years ago, and I'd rather wear something a little heavy than have that happen. Melee is a hot mess, and sticks fly everywhere. With my smaller frame, a misplaced or mistimed chop from a great weapon would be all it would take. Maybe eventually for tourney I will decide on something lighter.  I put the leather on top of the splints, and bound them with suede using my trusty treadle machine. Then I sewed on buckles and straps.

about this time I decided to try and incorporate hardened demi gauntlets into my design to save me from wearing a pair over the gloves. I had already made a cardboard pattern and mockup for these, and I decided to get rid of the cuff, and rivet the hand direct to the glove itself before attaching the vambrace. I felt this would streamline the dressing process and save me from the dread demi gauntlets. I'd been through 3 or 4 different loaned pairs (in varying shades of "doesn't fit") and didn't much care for any of them.

I cut the gauntlet pieces, sewed them together, and water hardened them. To shape them over my hands I put on the gloves with a pair of surgical gloves over top of them, to protect them from the water. Then I slapped the hot wet leather right onto my hand, covered it with a piece of plastic wrap, and taped it to my hand with athletic tape. I left it taped to my hand until it was thoroughly cooled, then took it off very gently, and tied it gently around so that it wouldn't fall out of shape as it dried. Once it was dry, I quick riveted it to the back of the hand. Then I sewed the cuff onto the hand with a stitching awl. This seam can be undone easily should i manage to get articulated hands for these gauntlets.

The bottom of the wrist seam is left un sewn. This allows for better mobility in the joint.  The leather strap across the palm keeps the hardened plate from flapping.

The gentle curve down over the knuckles gives me better coverage without limiting my mobility. You don't want any squishy bits sticking out of your shield boss or hilt basket, and i prefer a smaller hilt basket. so thumb and hand coverage is key. 

With the basic gauntlet done, I needed make a floating piece to cover the space between hand back and splints,  that would help protect my wrist and make sure I passed inspection. I needed to do this without limiting my mobility. which is a pretty tall order. One of the more senior fighters that I was complaining to had the excellent idea of attaching a small wrist plate with elastic to the sides of the glove. I went back to the cardboard for a trial run and found that a blobby crescent sort of shape, if given a little stretch, covered the questionable chink in my armor, and didn't bind up on my wrist. I cut it from leather, wet shaped it, and attached it with elastic tabs. 

the finished right glove. complete with wrist guard. 

elastic tabs mounted on rivets through the hand plate give the wrist guard some flex. the curved up shape keeps it away from my wrist and allows a pretty full range of wrist motion. 

from the top you can see that the floating plate gives complete coverage of the gap between the splinted vambrace and the hand plate. I wore the gloves for several weeks without the wrist plate, and got hit in the wrist a couple times without issue, but this way they will consistently pass inspection. The extra protection for the wrist is no bad thing either I need my wrists for sewing. 

For the record, this is the stupidest way to make a glove EVER, and I could have made 3 pairs of regular gloves, maybe more, in the time it took me to make these. But I love them so much I totally don't care. Sometimes, since I have to be aggressively practical in most of my mundane life, it's just nice to break out in impracticality in some way!

In Search of Armor: Gambeson

My current gear, I've got my new arms on here,
Although taped on still. Legs, and breastplate are
Loaner, so's my helmet (restingby my feet)

I've been a bit lax with my blog over the last couple months. Not because I've not been sewing, but because with the SCA event season upon us, I've been too busy desperately trying to finish stuff to have time to spend writing it up. We've gotten much more involved this year: started attending camping events, and both of us started fighting, so suddenly I have 6 people in need of complete wardrobes, rather than just one or two outfits, plus an entire encampment to organize. It's been crazy to say the least. But I wanted to take a break from the hurly burly of pennsic prep to share the next step in my quest for armor that doesn't weigh a thousand pounds and fit like it was made for a much larger man....

The next step in my skin out armoring process is the Gambeson. For those of you not familiar with armoring terms, this is a padded (usually by quilting) closely fitted jacket style garment worn under armor to give you some padding. It has varying styles. I chose one popular in the 14th century because I was fascinated by the large circular grande assiette sleeve. It's some of the most interesting patterning I've ever seen, and I wanted to try it! There's a fascinating surviving example of this style in the purpoint of charles de blois (Housed in the Musee Historique des Tissus). Although it has been postulated that this rich silk garment was actually for show, it has the style of the more practical arming coats of the time. The pattern is a variety of crazy partially probably inspired by a desire to conserve fabric, and partially practical. The circular sleeve gives you almost complete mobility in a skin tight garment, which explains why the style was popular for so long. (For a wonderful discussion of the topic with all the applicable sources, see this well done Article).

I started with a body pattern pulled almost direct from my body block, as this is a very fitted garment.  I used a center back gore in the skirts to give me fullness for my hips and rear, and cut the sleeve holes out to the aproximate shape. Then I used The Cotte Simple's directions for Drafting with your good friend, Math which were very clear and simple and resulted in an almost perfect fit at the first go. I fudged the lower arm (there's a seam at the elbow hinge) but came out with a good result there the first time around as well. With a couple very minor alterations, I went straight to the final garment without a second fitting.

I decided, based on the example of other local fighters, that I was only going to pad key areas of my gambeson, for the prevention of heat stroke (Who wants to be wrapped in a quilt under their armor on a hot day? NOT ME) Therefore I cut the complete pattern out of white 4.7 oz linen (Dharma Trading again!) then cut a second layer for the areas that were going to be padded. The padded areas are the high wear areas, so I wanted to have the outer layer be a heavier weight. I didn't have any heavy weight linen I wanted to sacrifice for the cause, but I did have a big bag of scraps from making other garments that I had planned to piece crazy quilt style to make a lining for a  cloak or something, they were all nice quality and heavier weight, so I decided that my gambeson would be crazy quilt style, and got to piecing.

With my outer layer ready, I needed to sandwich some sort of stuffing between the layers of linen. Historically wool, flax, and horse hair were used for armor padding. In the modern day, we have a lot more options. I knew I wanted to avoid synthetics at all costs for this project, because of how hot they are. Although cotton is a popular modern choice, I wanted to avoid it because of it's sponge like qualities and slow drying rate, which I thought might lead to my gambeson growing things and developing a powerful stank. Horsehair and flax are not easily available, so that left me to choose between wool, and bamboo, which is noted for it's anti microbial properties. I consulted the various fighter groups, and finally decided to use, not wool batting, but just washed and carded wool fleece from my own stash. Evidently it will felt itself into the shape of my body after a few uses. That, plus the fact that I already have it, were powerful incentives.

I sandwiched the layers together, body of garment, padding, then outer layer, and pinned it to death. I was originally going to quilt this on my treadle machine, but after looking at the sort of dished shape of the back of the garment, decided it would be less painful in the long run to do it by hand. So I quilted all the padded areas with a large stitch and perle cotton. It turned out looking rather like the carapace of some fantastic beetle.

Then I put the sleeves in, This was a bit tricky because I didn't want to catch all that padding in the seams, making a lump to chafe my poor delicate skin under my armor. After consulting with my mom, whose degree in practical fashion design makes her unusually qualified to deal with these problems, I decided to face the inner seam out, clip the padding back and top stitch it down, then cover the whole mess with a piece of trim.  I treated the elbow and sleeve seams similarly, although much of that was padded meeting linen, so I clipped back the padding, rolled the edge of the top layer under, and used a tiny invisible hand stitch to put it down. There was no way to get the machine down into the arm to top stitch it (at least not easily) The key was to always trim back as much of the bulk as possible before finishing the edges. This was accomplished by by trimming the padding back so it ended about a quarter to an eight of an inch before the seam (leaving room for any turned under edges) and grading the hidden parts of the seam. This was a lot of work, but it avoided any bulky stiff lumpy chafey seams.

I had to finish all the edges of the quilted areas where they met the fabric. The easiest way to do this was to put some bias taped down over the edge. I really wanted to use a linen tape trim, but the price was a little steep, and I ended up going with some cotton bias tape that I already had in a complimentary color of green. I running stitched it down to the linen side, then used a mostly invisible whip stitch to sew it through all three layers of the quilted areas. Sewing through all the layers will keep the quilted edge from pulling free over time and wear.

I finished the cuffs with some silk scraps and a little perle cotton stitching. I don't know how I feel about the stitching. I might do it differently if I did it again. the effect is a little overkill, but then again the whole jacket is a little overkill.  the bottom edges I rolled and hemmed, and the collar I finished with a small bias silk strip.

The front edges had to be hearty enough to take ties. So I finished them off with a wide facing strip of very heavy (canvas weight) linen leftover from Husbeast's latest pair of pants. Then I used my favorite method for shirt ties, scaled up. First I put a hole where I wanted the tie using my handy tailors awl. Then I threaded 4 strands of perle cotton through, and finger loop braided short cords. Husbeast has yet to destroy shirt ties made in this manner, and I hope my gambeson will wear equally well. By going through the fabric itself you eliminate the weakest link of the tie: the place where you sewed it down. I also love how tidy it is without any messy sewn on ends or stitches showing on the outside. A little gentle scraping of the fabric with your fingernail shoves all the threads back into place and closes the hole around the cord completely.

Please excuse the crappy mirror selfies

And it was finished! The range of motion in this thing is strictly incredible. Full 360 degree shoulder rotation, I can wrap my arms as far around myself as they will go without straining the garment. I can lift them over my head and barely budge the bottom hem. There is a little extra fabric at the front of the arm. I'm not sure if that can be done away with. The placement of the sleeve hole on this garment is ideal for range of motion, but not ideal for the more sloping away side bust of the female form. Angling the seam line back away down the side of the bust would eliminate the extra fabric,  but might reduce range of motion. I still think I look rather like some sort of fantastic beetle, but I more like that than not. I'll use buckles or points to attach my rerebraces and elbows to the gambeson, which will keep them from sliding. Right now I'm using points and am dissatisfied with the ease of getting them tied up by myself and, it may just be the paracord I'm using, but they tend to come undone, which is annoying.

Here are some better shots of the whole thing laid out so you can see all the glorious details NOT in a slightly dirty mirror.

The elbow has a LOT of bend built in. surprisingly this is less awkward when your arm is held relaxed than you'd think. The elbows look a little poofy because I doubled the padding there compared to the rest of the forarm. I've been whacked on my vambraces with a polearm and it didn't leave a big mark, so they don't need a lot of padding. Elbows are fragile and pointy and should be padded well. 

with it open you can see the construction, the quilted channels, and also the front facings. there are no interior seams to bother my skin. 

The beetle carapace. the padding on the back is quite heavy. it doesn't limit my motion there, and it will do a good ob of protecting my kidneys. I also went pretty heavy with the padding on the upper back, because that will not be covered by hard material, so I think the extra padding will be welcome. 

In search of Armor: Undergarments

Because I wanted to build my armor from the skin out to ensure optimum fit, I had to start at the very beginning, with the foundation garments that go under it all. I had decided at the beginning in the design phase to try and make a supportive linen undergarment to replace my modern sports bra. This was for a few reasons. One reason was comfort. The wicking power of linen is insane, it's the coolest most comfortable fabric out there, even more than many of the "high tech" sports fabrics. Another reason was that I kind of doubted women would have worn neon green sports bras if they went off to war (I equally do NOT buy that women didn't wear any underwear before we developed the modern bra. Whoever came up with that idea was clearly a dude. A dude who had never talked to a girl.) But the most important reason was because currently at practice, I get to stand around in my hot sweat soaked gear while the guys strip down and either walk around half naked to cool off, or change into gloriously dry clothing. I'm jealous. I want to be able to change into dry clothes too! So I designed a wrapping top, probably most accurately called a breast band, that, while I probably won't be comfortable just stripping down to and walking around in, I'm at least comfortable in stripping down to for long enough to change into a dry tunic!

Drafting! lots of rulers! 

The first thing I did was to have someone (Blessings to Olivia who knows how to measure and is willing to help) measure me for a new body block. My last body block is pre babies and will never fit again. I've put off making a new one, because I find drafting patterns for my fluffy self depressing, but for this kind of fitted garment, you just have to have one. What you ask is a body block? A body block is the perfect representation of your 3 dimensional shape, with all your unique bumps and wiggles, rendered flat onto paper. If done properly, when it's made up in muslin it will fit you like a second skin. This provides the foundation for drafting patterns that actually fit with a minimum of fussing. Once I have a body block I can make almost any garment from it and need only one fitting to iron out any small problems with fit. It's the invaluable tool of the custom pattern drafter.

my front and back hip length block. No sleeve on this one.

Since I'm being all technical and stuff here, I'd like to take a moment to clear up some terminology confusion. A body block is a flat representation of a specific person's body, used as a tool to draft patterns for that person. A Sloper is a generic body block, made in standard sizes (not specifically for one person) used in commercial pattern drafting. So if you work in a fashion house, you might go grab the size 8 sloper to make a dress pattern. If you draft from measurements directly to the pattern for say a bodice or a doublet, (which is a fascinating period technique), it is neither a Block, nor a Sloper, it is a Pattern. You have completely skipped the Sloper/Block step of pattern drafting and gone directly to the end goal: a pattern that fits. I prefer, usually, to work from a block, because if I go direct to pattern I have to re-do the drafting process every time: if I have a block I just trace the pattern off and make the appropriate alterations.

Something extremely fitted and supportive like a breast band may require more fiddling than the average garment: even with a good body block, I had to go through two mockups to get the shaping just right. The final product though is super comfortable, very supportive, cool, and un bra like enough that I'm comfortable stripping off to change in the middle of a field full of primarily dudes. (I want to be clear that this is an issue of personal comfort, not of modesty. I applaud any of my sisters in arms who do not feel weird about stripping down and changing, I am not as brave as you!)

 The final garment is made of two layers of linen in the front, and one layer, with an extra strength piece added at the center in the back.  There's a small loop to keep the straps from shifting around at the center back. The tie is  double folded light weight linen. Usually I cut all selvedges off of linen, because they can make your seams bunchy. However here, I used the selvedge in the tie on purpose, because it 100% will NOT stretch.

  I wanted to give the back a little extra strength, but not make it two layers, so I put a small panel at the center back to give support to the fabric where the straps pull and minimize stretching.The straps are cut on the straight of the grain to minimize stretching.

I need to add a small button hole for the under wrapping strap to come out of, because that is showing a tendancy to slip.  All the front edges have three rows of top stitching. This is because they are necessarily cut on the bias, and will be prone to stretching. If this isn't stretch proof I can run a small ribbon through one of the "chanels" formed by the top stitching and sew it in place to firm up the edge.

In search of armor. A basic design.

Tourney at War of the Roses, 2015
Photo: Daily Gazette

I have recently started doing SCA Heavy combat, which is something I've been interested in since the first time I saw people doing it, three years ago at Wars of the Roses. I thought, WOW that looks like an amazing amount of fun! But with then 3 kids and another on the way it just didn't seem possible. Well, fast forward two years, and the rest of the family is up to their ears in fencing, so I'm at practice every week, but actually fighting myself seems years away, because someone has to watch the horde. Enter the amazing Olivia Baker, who said something to me like "gee I'd really like to try fencing, but what on earth would I do with the minion while I fight?" And so the fight practice children's play group was born. I watch everyone while Olivia goes off and (safely and carefully) stabs people, then we switch out and I bludgeon people (well, attempt to) while she supervises the horde. It's been amazing, and Heavy is just as fun as I thought it looked the first time I saw it. Probably more!

The biggest problem with heavy fighting is all the armor. It gets expensive pretty quickly if you're not a smith, and I'm no metal worker. While most baronies keep a lot of loaner gear, if you're not standard guy sized you can have trouble finding things that fit. And armor that doesn't fit leaves spectacular bruises. Luckily one of our local households has a large stock of youth sized loaner gear and were able to set me up with a full kit. Less luckily, because it's household armor, they (very reasonably) requested that it be kept by a household member and transported to practice for me. Because the household member also has a life, which doesn't always coordinate with my life, the armor is not reliably at practice when I am. Between that and the "armor bite" bruises I'm scrambling to get as much of my own kit as quickly as possible.

Aside from being a blacksmith, There are other options: lamellar plates  and pickle barrel or kydex are more acessible to the average human, and less expensive. Leather can be expensive, and there is a skillset to working with it, but it's more flexible and breathable than many other options. I've spent a lot of time since I started fighting looking at all the female kits I could find. because  gear that works for girls can be quite different than that which works for guys. I found some options that are more in my own wheelbase: using more garment sewing skills than metal and heavy leather working skills. This also gives me the opportunity to learn a few new skills, particularly working with heavier weights of leather.

For design I wanted to maximize flexibility and breathability without sacrificing much in the way of protection. The official rules state that you have to cover your hands, wrists, elbows, knees, kidneys, and neck with "rigid" material backed by regulation padding. (obviously in addition to a helmet and gender specific groin protection) But most fighters add pieces to this to their own taste. As a new fighter I want a lot of protection because I get hit a lot. As I improve I may dispense with some of these pieces, but for now I'm thankful for all the protection I can get, since I don't like the look of layered bruises . I'm adding to the regulation gear: vambraces, Rerebraces, Spaulders (the smaller cousin of the pauldron) and a chest and back piece. I'm hoping to continue borrowing the full legs I've been using for the time being (leather cuisse with articulated metal poleyn and fan plate) because I quite like them. I may consider adding tassets eventually if I keep getting whacked in the hips, but for now I mostly get very good protection from my shield.

The best way to design and make all this is from the skin out: so that the outer layers would be sure to fit over padding and garments worn underneath.

Layer 1: a wrapped linen supportive top. Thorsbjurg trousers with leg wraps. and a closely fitted gamebeson with grand assiette sleeves for freedom of motion. The gambeson is quilted with padding over key areas, but not all over to facilitate not dying of heat stroke.














Layer 2: Rerebraces attached to couters are pointed (meaning tied) to the shoulders of the gambeson. Couters are purchased from Rough From the Hammer and made of aluminum. Rerebraces are going to be either kydex or leather (still arguing with myself) A tall fitted kidney belt with lacing for adjustment, and buckles to get in and out, covers my kidney area and supports my leg armor while spreading the weight of said leg armor evenly over my hips.  This garter style comes recommended by other female fighters, and I'm looking forward to getting rid of the highly uncomfortable leg belt.








Layer 3: a fighting tunic goes over the whole thing, and is belted on. Over that I put on a shaped leather breastplate with attached spaulders and a back panel of scale mail mounted on leather, and my gorget. Spaulders are stainless steel and also from rough from the hammer, and the gorget is on it's way from the same place we bought husbeasts fencing gorget. in addition I will wear a pair of leather covered vambraces attached to gloves, and leather half gauntlets.










Certainly this mish mash of pieces is nothing even LIKE historically accurate, but, for a viking persona, any armor other than a padded jacket with maybe a chain link shirt is basically not, from anything we can tell, historically accurate. The closest real armor I can find is the Visby coat of plates, in 1361, and of course the questionable birka lamellar scales. But in our particular combat sport, we have rules, and those rules dictate that we use certain amounts of rigid body protection, and good sense dictates a few more. So this is going to be a practical, fun, historical ish project that will hopefully result in a set of armor that I actually like.